...we make it our aim

         to please Him.

          2 Corinthians 5. 9

(In whatever I say,

             do and think,

wherever He places me

                  today,

and among whomever.

Even here.

Even in this.

Even among them.

How can I see this

   not as a struggle,

but an opportunity 

          to please Him

 and practice grace?)

For what we preach is not ourselves,

        but Jesus Christ our Lord...

                        2 Corinthians 4. 5

(Who do others see today

     in all I do,

     in how I respond,

     in who I am?

"Excuse me,

  but your relationship with Jesus 

                    is showing."

May His power, love and grace

     brim over in whatever you do,

     wherever He places you today).

                  

...but our sufficiency

               is from God.

     2 Corinthians 3. 5

(God makes it enough.

More than we can know.

Don't even try 

to do this day

         without Him).

But we have

  the mind of Christ.

      

       2 Corinthians 2. 16

(Not just aware of God,

but having the mind of Christ 

                    in this.

Even in this.

And that always

       looks very different.

His vision over mine,

His thoughts over mine,

His heart over mine).

For He will complete 

what He appoints for me,

and many such things 

          are in His mind.

            Job 28.14

(God's divine appointments,

even that which 

    I cannot understand,

nor yet see from where I am).

But that was

to make us rely

not on ourselves.  

         but on God

who raises the dead.

         2 Corinthians 1. 9

(Not a struggle,

but a time of strengthening.

Nothing random at all).

Let all that you do

    be done in love.

       1 Corinthians 16. 14

(The original Greek word 

   for "all"

means exactly that.

No matter what.

Bring the love of Jesus 

               to it).

And now, O LORD,
    for what do I wait?
My hope is in You.
 
            Psalm 39. 7

(Seeking not a way,
     nor an answer,
nor a door to suddenly
                to open,
but seeking God Himself).

But for You, O LORD,

           do I wait;

it is You, O Lord my God, 

who will answer.

              Psalm 38. 15

(Don't run ahead of God,

don't lag behind His purposes.

We are not waiting

        for a door to open,

but walking with Him

     in the passageway.

God brings His answers

in unexpected ways

     and His perfect timing).

As for me,
I would seek God,
and to God
would I commit my cause,
Who does great things
and unsearchable,
marvelous things
       without number...

              Job 5. 8-9

(More than we can know.
Commit my self,
not just my situation
to God Himself.
Seeking God,
not just an answer).

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name
          in all the earth!
You have set Your glory
      above the heavens.
...When I look at Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place,
what is man
that You are mindful of him,
and the son of man
    that You care for him?

                 Psalm 8. 1, 3-4

(The eclipse has
His fingerprints all over it.
And we've seen
          nothing yet!)

Trust in the LORD,

       and do good,

so you will dwell in the land,

   and enjoy security.

Take delight in the LORD,

and He will give you

    the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD,

trust in Him,

        and He will act.

                 Psalm 37. 3-5

(Fulfillment of God's promises to us

are not restricted to 

     our limited way of thinking.

Trust,

take delight,

commit,

and watch what God does.

He is taking you

            on the ride of your life.

The change starts

     when the submitting 

                     to God begins).

      

He who pursues

    righteousness and kindness 

will find life and honor.

               Proverbs 21. 21

(That which is right

                in God's eyes,

that which is kind

    are intentional choices.

A pursuit is never

             a casual stroll.

Am I being faithful to God

         in this?

An opportunity to

             practice grace

is rarely convenient,

    costs you 

                      something,

and is always profound).

Do this

   in remembrance of Me.

           1 Corinthians 11. 24

(Not just for communion,

        but in everything I do.

Even this.

Sometimes 

       the only way I can do it,

       even think of doing it

    -- a grace, a mercy, a kindness,

        a costly sacrifice 

                 in the face of adversity--

is in remembering Christ.

I am not doing something for Him,

but by Him,

       through Him,

       and because of Him).

Say to my soul,

   "I am your deliverance."

              Psalm 35. 3

(The LORD will not only

show me the way through,

      He IS my deliverance.

Not just to follow through the trouble,

not just to see beyond this mess,

        but abide in Him.

Jesus meets each one of us

   at the point of 

               our deepest need.

As the song "There is a Hope" states,

     "And in the pit,

      I see my Savior there."

What you are struggling with

       is not random,

but that which God redeems.

Even this.

The light of Jesus

is not just at the end of the tunnel,

     but right where you are).

Seek peace,

    and pursue it.

                Psalm 34. 14

(It doesn't just happen).

Forty years

You sustained them

    in the wilderness,

and they lacked nothing;

their clothes 

     did not wear out 

and their feet

     did not swell. 

        Nehemiah 9. 21

(It's not a wilderness 

                  to God,

but a place of

   His great faithfulness,

in ways we do not even know,

   quiet miracles

      we do not recognize.

His fingerprints 

  are all over your life).

  

Forty years

You sustained them

    in the wilderness,

and they lacked nothing;

their clothes 

     did not wear out 

and their feet

     did not swell. 

        Nehemiah 9. 21

(It's not a wilderness 

                  to God,

but a place of

   His great faithfulness,

in ways we do not even know,

   quiet miracles

      we do not recognize.

His fingerprints 

  are all over your life).

  

And You divided the sea before them,

so that

they went through 

     the midst of the sea

on dry land....

             Nehemiah 9. 11

(God leads in

     unexpected ways,

through unlikely places,

and on dry land in

 impossible situations).

...for they perceived 

that this work 

had been accomplished 

   with the help of our God.

                  Nehemiah 6. 16

(Live in such a way

         that He is seen,

not just in the extraordinary 

or in the seemingly impossible,

   but also in faithfulness 

    even in what would appear

             as ordinary.

God always somehow some way

bears fruit

       in what is selfless.

God is at work

               in you

and through you

     to bring Him glory

in incredible corners of this world).

So we built the wall,

and the wall was joined together

              to half its height.

For the people had 

         a mind to work.

                 Nehemiah 4. 6

(What has God set before me?

That which is proximate 

     enlarges and deepens my vision,

not what is way off in a distance.

Willingness in the ordinary,

faithful to Him right where I am,

                even in this,

is how God builds His kingdom.

There is nothing mundane

in God's economy,

nothing He cannot use

       in extraordinary ways).

                  

Now I was 

cupbearer to the king.

          Nehemiah 2. 1

(Where has God 

strategically placed you today

for His purposes 

    and for His glory?

Being faithful to Him.)

But I trust in You,

            O LORD,

I say,

   "You are my God."

My times are in Your hand.

                  Psalm 31. 14-15

(Even today.

Even in this mess 

or mystery 

    or deep water 

 where I cannot touch bottom.

God is already redeeming,

   not in spite of this,

       but through).

I will rejoice and be glad

     for Your steadfast love,

because You have seen my affliction,

you have taken heed

           of my adversities,

and have not delivered me

     into the hand of the enemy;

You have set my feet

            in a broad place.

                 Psalm 31. 7-8

(No matter where,

       or among whom,

nor level of scariness,

I am secure in Him.

My security is in the LORD,

    not in favorable circumstances).

Now after this....

                Ezra 7. 1

(That is how God leads us.

That is how we follow Him,

one step at a time,

into a deeper dimension 

            of knowing Him.

"Obey God

in the thing He shows you

and instantly 

the next thing is opened up."

         -- Oswald Chambers)

            

Do you not know

 that you are God's temple

and that God's Spirit

       dwells in you?

           1 Corinthians 3. 16

(And that reality

     changes everything.

You are different now.

Live that way).

But we have the 

             mind of Christ.

            1 Corinthians 2. 16

(Not just mindful of Him,

     but have His mind in this.

Not just what is God's way,

but His all-encompassing response.

What is the mind of Christ

          in this?

His thoughts over mine,

His heart over mine.

My response should look

                radically different).

...in whatever place he sojourns...

                         Ezra 1. 4

(Here?  Even here.

Wherever God places me,

    always strategically,

    always with purpose,

almost always in unexpected ways

   and among the most unlikely.

For what has God charged me to do?

        Be faithful to Him.

        Even here. Even in this.

God is fulfilling,

restoring and redeeming.

And He invites me to join Him.

Even in what

    I cannot yet see).

Now to Him

    Who is able 

to strengthen you....

            Romans 16. 25

(God is able.

He grants a strength

    that is not my own

    in impossible places.

God's got this.

Not strength to muddle through,

      but to bring Him glory

in this part of His story).

No matter what

   is on your path today).

Be strong 

      and of good courage.

Do not be afraid or dismayed

before the king of Assyria 

and all the horde

       that is with him,

for there is One greater with us

                than with him.

With him is an arm of flesh,

but with us 

       is the LORD our God,

to help us 

       and to fight our battles.

                 2 Chronicles 32. 7-8

(We all struggle with something.

And sometimes that struggle

     comes from

     trying to do life on my own.

Don't forget Who is with you.

His victory prevails

over our fears,

     both real and imagined).

And every work that he undertook 

in the service of the house of God

and in accordance with the law

          and the commandments,

seeking his God,

he did with all his heart,

                and prospered.

                2 Chronicles 31. 21

(Seeking God in it

       changes everything 

and causes us to thrive,

    no matter the dire circumstances.

No work is mundane in God's economy,

    the common becomes the uncommon,

the ordinary

   becomes the most extraordinary of all,

and faithfulness to God

      is a catalyst to the incredible).